Giving Subjects the Eye and Showing Them the Finger: Socio-Biological Cues and Saccade Generation in the Anti-Saccade Task

Abstract

Abstract. Pointing with the eyes or the finger occurs frequently in social interaction to indicate direction of attention and one's intentions. Research with a voluntary saccade task (where saccade direction is instructed by the colour of a fixation point) suggested that gaze cues automatically activate the oculomotor system, but non-biological cues, like arrows, do not. However, other work has failed to support the claim that gaze cues are special. In the current research we introduced biological and non-biological cues into the anti-saccade task, using a range of stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). The anti-saccade task recruits both top^down and bottom^up attentional mechanisms, as occurs in naturalistic saccadic behaviour. In experiment 1 gaze, but not arrows, facilitated saccadic reaction times (SRTs) in the opposite direction to the cues over all SOAs, whereas in experiment 2 directional word cues had no effect on saccades. In experiment 3 finger pointing cues caused reduced SRTs in the opposite direction to the cues at short SOAs. These findings suggest that biological cues automatically recruit the oculomotor system whereas nonbiological cues do not. Furthermore, the anti-saccade task set appears to facilitate saccadic responses in the opposite direction to the cues.

Individual differences in the gesture effect on working memory

“…Taken together, these findings suggest that gestures interact with the executive control of attention, rather than the encoding or maintenance of information. This view receives further support from studies showing that the kinds of gestures that our participants used-that is, pointing-are used to direct attention (Bangerter, 2004;Gregory & Hodgson, 2012;Tomasello, Carpenter, & Liszkowski, 2007). However, WM capacity might be the result of a complex interaction between information retention and attention control (Unsworth & Engle, 2007).…”

Gestures in Instructional Animations: A Helping Hand to Understanding Non‐human Movements?

“…It has been found that motions associated with animacy (suggesting self-propelled and self-directed action) capture visual attention more strongly than inanimate motions (Pratt, Radulescu, Guo, & Abrams, 2010). Moreover, in a recent study using an anti-saccade task, Gregory and Hodgson (2012) showed that a pointing hand affected saccadic reaction times, whereas a pointing arrow did not. The authors suggested that pointing fingers may influence the oculomotor system more effectively than arrows because of their biological nature.…”

Environmental Learning of Social Cues: Evidence From Enhanced Gaze Cueing in Deaf Children

“…Environmental learning accounts of cueing effects posit that other socially salient cues can develop through development. For instance, it has been shown that finger pointing can trigger covert attention orienting, even when the hand‐cue is completely nonpredictive of target location (Ariga & Watanabe, ; Gregory & Hodgson, ; Tomonaga & Imura, ; see also, Daum, Ulber, & Gredebäck, ). In fact, a recent study on 137 hearing children (aged 3–10 years old) found stronger effects of hand pointing compared to eye gaze cueing across all age ranges (Gregory et al, ).…”